Right after I arrived in Korea, I figured, “If I’m going to live here, I should probably use a Korean bank,” so I opened an account at Shinhan Bank—but it was a total mistake 😅

韓国銀行を選んだ理由

At first, I just thought about it simply. I figured that if I was going to live in South Korea, a local bank would be more convenient, and the fees would probably be lower. Plus, a coworker told me, “Shinhan Bank is a good choice,” so I decided on it without giving it much thought.

Opening the account itself went pretty smoothly. I think it took about 30 minutes once I brought my alien registration card and proof of employment. At first, I thought, “Oh, this is easy,” but...

現実は厳しかった

First of all, the English support is way too limited. The app is mainly in Korean, and even when you call the call center, they only speak Korean. Actually, as someone who’s learning Korean, it was pretty tough, lol.

Another big headache was sending money overseas. Whenever I tried to send money to my family in Japan, the fees were ridiculously high, and the process was complicated and took forever. There was one time I had to wait over an hour at the counter, and I was seriously about to lose it.

On top of that, the user experience with online banking is a bit iffy. It’s good that security is tight, but there are just too many tedious steps—like installing certificates and dealing with ActiveX—which really builds up stress.

When I vented to a friend, they said, “You should’ve gone with Citibank or HSBC,” and that’s when I first realized that international banks were even an option 😭

With an international bank, English support is top-notch, international transfers are easy, and the fees are low. The app is easy to use, and online banking is intuitive. I’m kicking myself for not looking into this from the start.

To be honest, I’d like to switch banks right now, but when I think about changing my direct deposit and setting up automatic payments for utilities, it seems like a hassle, so I’ve just been putting it off. Frankly, I’d recommend that anyone new to Korea open an account with an international bank from the very beginning.

I definitely think international banks are the way to go, especially for people who are used to English or who frequently make international money transfers. To be honest, dealing with local banks is a real hassle until you become fluent in Korean.